Apparent Tesla Employee Tries To Sell Early Model 3 On Craigslist For $200,000 Before Deleting Post

It's going to be a while before you, a dutiful, early-and-often voting, patriotic member of the American public, get your hands on a Tesla Model 3. Even if you pre-ordered one, the brand new entry-level electric sedan is stuck in "production hell" as Tesla tries to ramp up to meet the aggressive sales targets set by CEO Elon Musk. If you're going to buy one now there's a good chance it's because someone got cute -- or greedy.

That would have been a hefty profit for this seller, as the sticker on this Model 3 is reportedly just $US56,000 ($72,000). That would make it a pretty nicely-equipped Long Range model, and given the photos seemed impossible to find elsewhere on the internet, the posting at least seemed to be legitimate.

But the game didn't last long. The Craiglsist listing was deleted not long after it started getting traction on that site, Reddit and other places. (Officials from Tesla declined to comment on the matter.)

So what happened here? Again, Tesla won't say, but it's entirely plausible an employee got their car and then decided to try and make a lot of money by selling it -- although they did so in a very stupid and public way.

As Electrek notes, Tesla employees have to have these early Model 3s registered to themselves or family members and are barred from reselling them for anything more than the original price; the same goes for reservation holders. More than likely this person drew the ire of their employers and the post was yanked as a result.

Better luck next time, friend.

Hat tip to daniel m!

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